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Home , Beth Hart, Better Than Home, Dean Parks, Fire on the Floor, Glen Burtnik, Jools Holland

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BETH HART ‘Fire On The Floor’ Provogue/Mascot Label Group Out: 14 October 2016

Beth Hart returns with a new studio “Fire On The Floor” out October 2016 on Provogue/Mascot Label Group

Beth Hart is on fire. Right now, the Grammy-nominated singer/ is riding a creative tidal wave, firing out acclaimed , hooking up with the biggest names in music and rocking the house each night with that celebrated burnt-honey voice. In 2016, the headline news is Beth’s latest album, Fire On The Floor: a release that even this fiercely self-critical artist describes as “pretty frickin’ good”. But let’s not forget the backstory that brought her here…

The Magazine once dubbed Beth Hart “the ultimate female rock star”, and there’s no doubt that her two-decade career is the ultimate thrill-ride. Born in Los Angeles, she released a fistful of hit albums through the ’90s, then reignited in the post-millennium as both a solo artist and the head-turning vocalist for heroes like , and . “Extraordinary,” wrote The Times of her once-a-generation voice box, while The Guardian praised her “daring, brooding and angry” performances.

But it’s in recent times that Beth has truly blossomed. In April 2015, she released : a critical and commercial smash that topped the iTunes Blues Chart and was crowned #4 Best Blues Album Of The Year by Mojo magazine. The release also reached #1 in the Dutch charts and helped Beth to fill Amsterdam’s Heineken Music Hall with 5,500 fans (her largest club show to date). “Oh, that was so good, man,” she reflects. “I love Holland. They’ve been really good to me.”

The US market has embraced her, too, with Beth packing ever-larger venues in major cities on the Better Than Home tour – including Nashville’s iconic Ryman Auditorium – and receiving a nomination from the American Blues Foundation in the category of Contemporary Blues Female Artist. “It’s unbelievable,” she admits. “This last tour, we were playing much bigger houses than I’d ever played in the States – and they were sold-out.” Meanwhile, on the other side of the pond, Beth’s rocketing UK profile has never been higher. Recent years have seen auspicious headline sets at the and the Barbican (not to mention the historic Hampton Court Palace with Joe Bonamassa), and in December 2015, she chalked up another first with a spot on Jools Holland’s legendary annual Hootenanny.

Bringing in the New Year with a soulful take on Tell Her You Belong To Me and alongside long-time collaborator Jeff Beck, it spoke volumes that the pair’s performance rapidly became the Hootenanny’s most-watched clip on the BBC’s official YouTube channel (even overtaking heavyweights like Tom Jones and Paul Weller). “Every time Jeff performs, he just kills it,” gushes Beth, who also joins the veteran guitarist for her first-ever appearance at the Hollywood Bowl this year. “To me, he’s the greatest ever.”

Just as memorable, also last December, was Beth’s first solo gig at London’s Union Chapel (subsequently voted by fans as the venue’s gig of the year). “It was the most terrifying experience of my entire life,” she admits. “I got up there and I was so frickin’ scared. But then, halfway through the show, I just started to enjoy it. By the end, I felt so connected to the audience, and I really felt like they did that show with me. It was like we were all .”

A highlight of that Union Chapel show was a heartfelt rendition of Mama This One’s For You (included on Better Than Home as a bonus track). The audience’s reaction lit a lightbulb, and in early 2016, the singer announced a contest inviting fans to submit footage of themselves with their mothers, for inclusion in a special Mama video released for Mother’s Day. “I cried when I saw the edited version for the first time,” Beth recalls. “I love my own mom more than anything in the world, and I found it so touching and beautiful.”

For further information and/or interview requests, please contact Ben Hofland at Mascot Label Group: Tel +31 (0)10 512 03 84 [email protected]

Beth Hart “Fire On The Floor” PRD 7506

Beth’s passion for collaboration also continues apace in 2016. On the heels of 2011’s Don’t Explain and 2013’s Grammy-nominated Seesaw, there’ll be another studio hook-up between the singer and blues titan Joe Bonamassa, with sessions set for August. “I’m really interested in us doing stuff from the ’40s and ’50s,” she reveals. “Rock ‘n’ roll, torch songs and songs…”

For now, though, Beth’s focus is Fire On The Floor: a new studio album sure to build on her breakneck momentum. As the singer explains, this latest record gave her an emotional release following the bitter-sweet sessions for Better Than Home. If there’s a theme that ties these twelve songs together, it’s a sense of escapism following the hardest of times. “We were still in the mixing stages for that album and I knew I had to make another record. Making Better Than Home was so painful, because one of the producers, Michael Stevens, was dying of cancer. It was a very emotional record to write and to make. I wanted the songs for Fire On The Floor to get born real quick.”

Beth’s first call was to the acclaimed producer Oliver Leiber, who called a session at his home studio in Toluca Lake and drafted a crack studio band that included (guitar), (guitar), Brian Allen (bass), (drums), Jim Cox (), (acoustic guitar) and (B3 and organ). “Oliver rounded up some amazing musicians,” nods Beth. “Michael Landau and Waddy Wachtel are legends, so when I found out we had them, I just couldn’t believe it. If you don’t have great musicians, you’re not gonna have a very good record, are you?

“We recorded sixteen songs in three days,” continues Beth of the quick fire LA sessions, “but then we spent a long time mixing. Oliver is a brutally hard-working person, but he’s also incredibly sensitive and that combination works so great. He’s strong and focused, but still so vulnerable, and his heart is wide open. I’m so proud of what he did on this record.”

Take a spin of Fire On The Floor and you’ll see exactly why. These twelve new songs run the gamut of genre, reflecting Beth’s eclectic teenage influences, which took in everything from gospel, soul and classical to the seismic rock of Soundgarden. “As a writer,” she nods, “I feel really stifled if I’m trying to write in the same style. I just can’t do that. Growing up as a kid, I was raised all over the place stylistically, loving so many different genres.”

As such, you’ll find everything from the spring-heeled soul of Let’s Get Together to the brittle rock of Fat Man. “I love that song,” she says of the latter. “That’s actually a co-write with a wonderful songwriter named , who I started writing with when I was about 24. We wrote that seven years ago – just a basic skeleton – but then I got super-inspired and wrote out the lyric. It feels good to sing it. That’s what’s so great about rock ‘n’ roll. It’s just such a fantastic way to let out your angst.”

Likewise, the title track: “I love Fire On The Floor. It’s just smoldering. I think it’s gonna be a fantastic piece to perform live. It’s filled with passion. It’s about when someone you know is so bad for you, but you can’t help it. Then there’s No Place Like Home. I love that song. It’s about how, like, you spend a lot of time on the road, and you start to realize all the great things about being home. Kinda the opposite to the song Better Than Home.” Other upbeat highlights include the salsa-tinged Baby Shot Me Down and the jazz-inflected Coca Cola, with a vocal that reminds you why Beth was recently voted as the 20th best blues singer of all-time in The Blues. “Vocally, that one takes me back to a Billie Holiday kinda singing,” she reflects. “I love that kind of vibe, like a light, fun sexiness.”

By contrast, there are some songs that Beth had to wrench from the emotional depths. “Picture In A Frame is a big one for me,” she says. “When I started writing it, I was thinking about being in love with my husband. But when I was done, I could see that I really connected it with Michael Stevens, and it was my way of saying to him, y’know, ‘I just want you to be better’.”

Despite all the emotionally bare moments, for Beth, this record represents a catharsis. “I think Better Than Home is one of the best records I’ve ever done,” she says, “but it was a brutal experience. Fire On The Floor has more energy and I think, overall, it’s just got more balls. And I think I really needed that, just to balance out that heavier mood on Better Than Home.”

Fire On The Floor is the album that Beth Hart needed to make. Likewise, it’s a record that you need to hear. “I’m so pleased with it,” she concludes. “I recently had to organize the sequence of the record, and while I was doing that, I was thinking to myself, ‘Y’know, this is pretty frickin’ good…!’”

For further information and/or interview requests, please contact Ben Hofland at Mascot Label Group: Tel +31 (0)10 512 03 84 [email protected]

Beth Hart “Fire On The Floor” PRD 7506

Fire On The Floor Track List Extra Information CD 01. Jazzman http://mascotlabelgroup.com/ 02. Love Gangster http://bethhart.com 03. Coca Cola www.facebook.com/officialbethhart 04. Let’s Get Together www.twitter.com/BethHart 05. Love Is A Lie www.instagram.com/officialbethhart 06. Fat Man www.youtube.com/bethhartmusic 07. Fire On The Floor 08. Woman You’ve Been Dreaming Of 09. Baby Shot Me Down 10. Good Day To Cry 11. Picture In A Frame 12. No Place Like Home

LP 01. Jazzman 02. Love Gangster 03. Coca Cola 04. Let’s Get Together 05. Picture In A Frame 06. Fat Man

07. Fire On The Floor 08. Woman You’ve Been Dreaming Of 09. Baby Shot Me Down 10. Good Day To Cry 11. Love Is A Lie 12. No Place Like Home

Editorial note/Not for publication: For additional information, stream links, interview requests, press photos, and videos, please contact:

Mascot Label Group Ben Hofland | +31 (0)10 512 03 84 | [email protected]

Mascot Label Group is a 100% independently owned and operated record company that is a market leader in the worlds of Rock, Metal and Blues. Originally founded in 1989 in The Netherlands, MLG now operates company offices in , London, Cologne, Paris, Milan, Stockholm, alongside the corporate headquarters in Rotterdam. The Mascot Label Group consists of individual imprints that include Mascot Records, , Music Theories Recordings and Cool Green Recordings. MLG is a label member of the American Association of Independent Music (A2IM).

Mascot Records primarily issues Metal and Rock albums. The label introduced Volbeat to the world, releasing the band's first three studio albums and the DVD Live: Sold Out. New artists signed to Mascot Records include Black Stone Cherry, Monster Truck, Stoneghost, Counting Days, and Shaman's Harvest.

Provogue Records is the market leader in guitar loaded Blues titles and is revered for its support of artists that include Robert Cray, Walter Trout, Beth Hart, JJ Grey & Mofro and many more. Provogue Records catalog features hundreds of titles, capturing the prolific work of talent that includes e.g. Joe Bonamassa, Gov't Mule featuring , Eric Johnson, and .

For further information and/or interview requests, please contact Ben Hofland at Mascot Label Group: Tel +31 (0)10 512 03 84 [email protected]

Beth Hart “Fire On The Floor” PRD 7506

Music Theories Recordings continues to be a leader in the worlds of progressive and musicianship, with Flying Colors as one the highest profile band so far. Additional artists signed to the imprint include Spock's Beard, , Ayreon, Teramaze and Neal Schon.

Cool Green Recordings houses artists loosely defined in the alternative and cutting edge space. Dutch rockers De Staat, underground favorites Crippled Black Phoenix and Masters of Reality featuring are amongst those defining the width of Cool Green Recordings' A&R vision.

For further information and/or interview requests, please contact Ben Hofland at Mascot Label Group: Tel +31 (0)10 512 03 84 [email protected]